Google to Invest in Undersea Cable

Google, SingTel, and others to build submarine cable

Web search company Google has agreed to build an undersea cable with five telecommunications operators that will link the United States to Japan, and provide the capacity to sustain a surge in Internet traffic between the continents. Google and the five telecommunications companies said in a joint statement that the 6,200-mile undersea fiber-optic cable, connecting the United States to Japan, will cost $300 million. Google's partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and SingTel.

The cable will provide much-needed capacity to sustain unprecedented growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the United States. "The Unity cable system allows the members of the consortium to provide the increased capacity needed as more applications and services migrate online," said Jayne Stowell, a spokeswoman for the consortium. The consortium said it has picked NEC and Tyco Telecommunications to construct and install the system, which is expected to be ready for service in the first quarter of 2010.

Published: February 26, 2008, 5:37 AM PST
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